A Colorful, Dramatic Recruitment!
 

I have debated posting my recruitment story here for several months, but I finally decided to do it. I attend a private school where Greek life is surprisingly big. Approximately 700 PNMs went through formal recruitment, and approximately 440 received bids. Lots of people go through recruitment on a whim, and recs aren’t a big deal, though I had one for every house. Recruitment happened in January, so I had already gotten to know girls in most of the houses. Between the start of the school year and recruitment, I deliberately tried to NOT listen to gossip about “top houses” because I wanted to base my choices on where I felt I fit in.


Round 1:
Round 1 was spread out over 2 days. We visited 6 houses the first day and 6 houses the second day. There are a total of 12 houses at my college. I’ll name them after colors because I always have trouble keeping track of the creative names in some of these threads! Note that the colors I pick don’t correspond to the official colors of the sorority. Here are the 12 houses and my opinions during Round 1. We only spent 20 minutes at each house, so the day went by very fast and I don’t remember much!


Purple: I liked purple and I talked to some great girls there.
Brown: The girls I spoke to at this house were very sweet and pretty. The house mom welcomed us into the house, and she reminded me of Mrs. Claus! I thought that was nice that she participated in recruitment like that.
Yellow: I knew several girls in this house both from my high school and at college. I spoke to other girls that I didn’t know during Round 1, and they seemed sweet.
Orange: I got matched with a girl I already knew, so we had a fun conversation. She and I both knew that this wasn’t the house for me, though. This house is known for having very outspoken, outgoing girls, and I am neither.
Red: I did not feel welcome at Red. The girl I spoke to was looking around as I talked to her, as though she was not interested in what I had to say. It was a little awkward.
Blue: I really liked this house. The girls reminded me of my friends from high school. They were sweet yet had sarcastic senses of humor.
Turquoise: This house did not stick out to me. The girls were nice but a bit unmemorable.
Pink: The girls here were nice, but a little bit awkward. They seemed nervous, which I thought was odd because I was the one who was supposed to be nervous!
Green: One of my good childhood friends is in this chapter, and though we weren’t matched together I really liked the girls I talked to here.
Lime green: I knew several members of this house, and the girl I talked to had a lot in common with me. She was very fun and smiley.
Black: I actually don’t remember a thing about this house, except for the fact that one girl I spoke to had really pretty curly hair.
Crimson: This house was decorated beautifully with a French country theme. I told the girl I was talking to how much I liked it, and we got into a great discussion about interior design. She was someone I could really see myself being friends with.

For Round 2, philanthropy round, we would be attending up to 9 houses. There was only one house, Red, that I really did not want to go back to. My favorites after Round 1 were Brown, Blue, and Crimson. After the first night, I ranked these three houses as the ones I would prefer not to go to:
Turquoise
Pink
Red

After Round 1, I promptly did my homework (classes were in session during recruitment!!) and went to bed. The guys in my dorm were all confused as to where all the girls had gone!

As a Tennessee girl, I've really got to root for Orange (and not Crimson! :D) but I think I'll choose to root for Lime Green. :) Can't wait to see where you end up!

I'm rooting for crimson!

Round 2:
My rho chi was super sweet and friendly, and she pulled each member of my group aside individually to hand us our schedules and console us if need be. I was nervous – I hoped I had a good schedule! When she finally called my name and handed me my slip of paper, I saw that I got asked back to 8 out of 9 possible houses – almost a full schedule!


I was very happy with this because I still had plenty of choices. I had been asked back to 2 houses from my “alternate” list but it was fine because I didn’t know a lot about the houses anyway. I was a bit upset to not be invited back to Brown, but it just wasn’t meant to be. I was happy with my schedule and ready to go!

Here is my schedule and my opinions on the houses:
Purple: Again, I liked purple. The girl I spoke to and I laughed because the people next to us were talking VERY loudly – it was a little obnoxious but thankfully we both acknowledged it!
Yellow: I liked this house, and one girl I spoke to was very energetic and friendly. We talked about our favorite Youtube videos!
Blue: Again, I liked this house a lot. The girls were a lot of fun and their philanthropy really struck a chord with me. I spoke to this one girl who was a lot like me and we had a great conversation.
Turquoise: I spoke to several nice girls here. One of them talked about her job at a cupcake shop, and I thought that was really cool!
Pink: Again, the girls here were nice, but awkward. This one girl showed me a tattoo on her foot, and it was pretty cool. I liked that she felt comfortable enough with me to do that.
Green: I had some good conversations at this house, and I felt very welcomed there. They had cucumber water, and the cucumbers were shaped like this sorority’s symbol. I thought that was awesome!
Black: This house was nice, but I only remember one girl mentioning that they didn’t emphasize sisterhood in the house. I did NOT like that!
Crimson: This house was known for having a pastry chef as their house cook. I ate a brownie square there and YUM it was divine! The girl I talked to here was very friendly and sweet; again someone I could see myself being friends with.


I loved Blue and Crimson, and as my three bottom houses, I ranked
Turquoise
Pink
Black

Crimson is still in the running, yay! More please!

First, go purple/green.
Second, trying to figure out which symbol could be carved into a cucumber slice (not many and I many need you to PM which chapter this is if you end up pledging elsewhere)
Third, who would say they don't emphasize sisterhood. I mean even if it's true, and that would be very sad, why would you say that?

ADPi's diamond, SK's heart, Phi Mu's quatrefoil (saw a cookie cutter shaped like one). Those came to mind when I read the post, I am sure there are others.

I thought of an arrow in addition to the above.

I suppose it could work in addition to the others posted. I was picturing a round cucumber with the seeds in the middle which made me cancel out an arrow. It doesn't necessarily have to have the seeds.

Haha, I love how you're all talking about the cucumber! Here's a hint: think simple!

Well that knocks out the Kappa fleur de lis. :D

And the AXO lyre. ;)

Theta! That's simple, right? I mean, a cucumber slice is round... :p

Can't be a kite though. And for KD, I'm thinking a dagger would be like trying to do an arrow.

A nautilus shell is round...

Ok... what does a cucumber slice look like when you take a bite out of it?

Ah...the crescent moon!

AzTheta's gonna be so disappointed that the Thetas didn't carve little Thetas out of cucumber slices. :( nice placement of your :p, though. :cool:

LOL at the cucumber dilemma!

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Boo. Boo (like the old woman in The Princess Bride when Buttercup is going to get married to the Evil Prince).

I am ignoring AOII Angel. She is in the corner.

Now, back to the story, please. And please tell me that they didn't actually BITE the slices, right? (okay enough silliness).

Good movie reference.

Round 3:
I found it funny that recruitment events were called “parties” because they were so structured and formal. I guess “recruitment interviews” doesn’t sound as good. For Round 3 we could go to up to 6 houses.

My rho chi handed me my schedule and asked me how I felt about it. I looked down to see that I had been invited back to 5 parties – another nearly-full schedule! I felt very fortunate to have so many houses left still. Some of the girls in my group were down to 2 or 3 parties already.

I was asked back to these houses:
Purple
Black
Pink
Turquoise
Blue

I was very excited to be asked back to Blue and Purple. Lots of girls really liked these 2 houses, and they wanted me! My other three houses were the three I had ranked as alternates. I was a bit discouraged that I hadn’t been invited back to Green and Crimson, but I was excited to get to know more girls in Turquoise, Pink, and Black. If they wanted me back, then they must have seen something in me that I hadn’t seen yet in them.

My rho chi was happy that I was pleased with my schedule – I was an easy PNM for her!


I went to the parties, and here are my thoughts.

Pink: Pink’s skit was super polished and their decorations were fantastic. The dancer in me was very impressed. Unfortunately, I still didn’t feel I was connecting to girls here. I had several awkward conversations and it seemed like the girls were very nervous.

Black: I still couldn’t get the “we don’t emphasize sisterhood” comment from last night from out of my head. For this reason, it was tough for me to focus on this party. The girls were sweet, though.

Purple: This house had a cute skit and I had some more great conversations here. I didn’t realize how much I liked this house until tonight.

Turquoise: Turquoise’s skit was good, but I just didn’t feel a connection here. I was tired by this point in the night and I think it showed.
Blue: Blue’s skit was INCREDIBLE and I was matched with girls who said they had heard great things about me from their sisters. This made me happy – they remembered me!

Not surprisingly, I ranked these two houses as my bottom.
Black
Pink

Yes, that does sound strange. But could there be some explanation, like this was her first time as an active doing recruitment, and she was kind of nervous, so what she meant to say come out totally wrong? For example, she was trying to say something like, the members are committed to academics and they don't emphasize the sorority over classwork? If you heard it from more than one member, then definitely a red flag, but just one girl saying it could be an unfortunate mis-step, or maybe even some personal issue she has with the chapter- if that's the case she shouldn't have said it, but it still could be something more reflecting on her than the chapter as whole.

Looking forward to hearing the rest of the story!

Round 4:
It was finally the last night of recruitment, and I was excited but ready for it to be over! My voice was gone, I was behind on homework, and if I had to say my major one more time I thought I might scream! But I enjoyed getting to know so many girls, and my Rho Chi group had gotten very close. We memorized all the house door songs and sang them to each other. Weird, but they WERE catchy! I still get them stuck in my head to this day.

My rho chi handed me this schedule. We could go to up to 3 houses.
Blue
Pink
Turquoise

Seriously?! The same houses I had ranked in the bottom each time kept inviting me back, and now it was preference night and I was down to 1 house that I absolutely loved. I had heard several girls talking about how they planned to be rude at houses they disliked or tell the girls at those houses that they liked other houses better. I thought this was super mean and ridiculous – the girls in these houses COULD SEE YOU AS SISTERS and you’re going to treat them like cr@p?!? This got me angry… but I didn’t have much time to be frustrated with other people because my parties were starting soon and I had a full schedule!

Blue: The ceremony was beautiful, and I felt a true connection here. I was paired with the girl I met during Round 2, and she told me how happy she was that I was there. I knew in my heart that this was where I was meant to be.
Pink: The ceremony was nice but not as formal as Blue’s. I had never met the girl I was paired with, and there were lots of awkward silences in our conversation. This hour party felt very slow, and I did not feel at home here.
Turquoise: Again, I didn’t know the girl I was paired with. The ceremony was nice and the girl I spoke to was cool, but I did not feel was welcomed here as I did at Blue.

I was instructed to rank all my houses to have the best chance of getting a bid. I knew my rankings and I got my ranks over with quickly. I went to bed right after I got back to my dorm – I was tired!
1. Blue
2. Turquoise
3. Pink

Oh I hope it's Blue! I lol'd at the cucumber thing, too. :D

Lol at the crescent-shaped cucumbers and cucumber water.

At the chapter I help advise, alumnae were helping decorate for Bid Day, while members were at the bid opening, and we could not figure out what smelled really bad. Turns out it was the day-old cucumber water from Pref., which had been left in the serving dispenser. I'm just warning anyone who might be thinking of serving this...don't let that stuff sit!

I am also rooting for Blue, but the fact that sugarberry waited a long time to post, and thought about it before posting, makes me think it's probably Turquoise or Pink.

Hahaha, the cucumber slices were not bit out of. I think they used a cookie cutter to cut out a section of each slice. Here is more of the story!


Bid Night!
It was FINALLY Bid Night! I excitedly got ready and headed to the big auditorium where all the PNMs would receive our bids. We sat through a long lecture (I don’t even remember it!) and then had to sit on our bids. On the count of 3, we opened them, and I ripped open mine. I had gotten a bid from…






























































































Turquoise.

Wait. What?! This was not my house. I immediately broke into tears as the girls around me screamed and squealed happily. What had I done wrong? Why didn’t Blue want me? I was crushed. Thankfully my Rho Chi was there for me, and she let me cry and talk it out for a while. She encouraged me to go to Turquoise’s Bid Night festivities, but I didn’t feel comfortable doing it. Those girls shouldn’t need to see me red-faced and sad at their fun night. It wasn’t fair to them. I walked home sad and crushed. I was meant to be in a sorority. All my friends were now in sororities. Where was I supposed to be now? I took some Nyquil (bad, I know) and quickly went to sleep. I didn’t want to deal with people at that time.


The story is not over!!! :D

The Next Day:

I woke up feeling a little better, but I soon felt sad again when I saw all the door decorations all over my hallway. On my desk, however, were several notes that had not been there the night before. The notes were from girls in Turquoise. It turns out several girls had come to my dorm last night while I was asleep and my roommate had let them in. The notes were encouraging and kind and made me cry, but this time it was tears of joy. I had sisters, whether I liked it or not, and I owed it to those sisters, to those two girls who came to my dorm late at night, to give Turquoise another chance. The notes invited me to a cupcake party that night for all the new members to meet more active sisters. I decided to go.

When I arrived I saw several girls I had spoken to during recruitment. They were very welcoming and sweet, and the girls in my pledge class were ones I did not know, but that I had seen around campus. Everyone had the same sarcastic sense of humor as I did, which I adored. After the cupcake party, we all went to one senior sister’s off-campus house. It was there that I met the sister who would soon be my Big. She took me under her wing and we were best friends immediately. It was as though we had known each other forever. She was actually the one who I had met at Pref Night: the girls in Turquoise matched her to me because they thought we would be friends. And outside of the formal, uncomfortable atmosphere of recruitment, we were!

The girls in Turquoise knew me more than I knew myself, and on that night, in that tiny apartment, I knew I had found my home. I came home that night crying again, but this time it was tears of joy again. The girls in Turquoise were my sisters. They had been all along. I just needed some more time outside of recruitment to realize it.

At least you didn't do what some people did one year at my university. There was one sorority without a house because of the lottery that the school had on their very small Greek Village and therefore people thought that they were "lower" than the others. On bid day some of the girls that received bids from them actually ripped up the bids IN FRONT of the sisters because they weren't their first choice and didn't want them.

Glad that the story isn't over yet. :)

THANK GOODNESS!!! I am so glad that you had a 2nd chance and that you took it. Imagine what you would have missed out on otherwise!

Beautifully said!!!!! I teared up! I'm so happy that you opened your heart to let these girls in.:D

:eek::eek::eek: Please tell me you're kidding! In front of them?

Congratulations, sugarberry!

So glad that you reconsidered and that your new sisters are so welcoming!

Congratulations!

crescent moon!

So sweet! I'm glad your sisters didn't give up on you and you gave them a second chance. Congratulations!

Sweet story! I bet you will be a great active sister and big sister in recruitment next spring.

Not kidding. I have a friend who was in the sorority at the time. I could have understood not accepting it or giving it a try and dropping out later in the process, but to tear it up in front of them was cold. I know from what my friend told me that people were appalled at their behavior.

This seems like an excellent way to make sure you never get another bid from any other group, ever.

Know what? I'm really pleased that you picked yourself up, dusted yourself off, and carried on. Look what you'd have missed. And the fact that those young women came to your room, sought you out, reached out to you and you responded tells me that there is a powerful sisterhood in that chapter.

Wishing you a wonderful college experience and a lifetime of membership (if you choose to continue your involvement beyond college - and I hope you do!). Congratulations (and I'm so over the crescent moon cucumber trick you pulled on us <<<vbg>>>. I wanted it to be a Theta, I really did. I'm still a little irked, but something else will come along to replace it, I'm sure).

What did the sorority do with them? Keep them or terminate them?

KDCat, I don't know what they did with them, but I know that the sisters that I knew, one of them being the recruitment chair, were pretty upset about it. I would think that the girls who ripped them up wouldn't come back or be embarrassed if they did. The funny part is that so many girls didn't like them because they didn't have a house and they ended up getting a house the next semester after a fraternity was kicked out of theirs.